COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Ohioans are asking lawmakers at the Statehouse to bring them some relief on property taxes.
“Somebody’s got to step up and somebody’s got to be concerned about these seniors, about disabled, about these people losing their homes,” Ohio homeowner Pastor Frederick V. LaMarr said.
It is an issue that several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said is the number one complaint they hear from their constituents. NBC4’s Statehouse Reporter Natalie Fahmy counted at least 18 related bills that have been introduced at the statehouse to address the issue.
“I don’t find relief when you say, ‘Well, we’re going to do another,’” LaMarr said. “Just to say, ‘OK, we are going to have another bill.’ Well, is that bill going to be in time to save somebody’s home? Or is somebody going to look back and say, ‘Well, if we had passed that bill in time my mother or my grandmother would be still in that house.’”
Of those 18 bills, two have made it across the finish line: Senate Bill 43, which modifies the homestead exemption for surviving spouses of disabled veterans , and House Bill 57, which passed in the state budget to help seniors and disabled Ohioans .